No matter what size hard drive or SSD your computer comes with, there is never enough storage for all your photos, videos and games. New hard drives and other solutions make it easy to add more storage to your computer.
It doesn’t matter if you have a laptop, desktop computer or tablet, there is a way to add more storage. More space allows you to build a larger music collection and install more games. Windows sometimes needs space to install updates that add new features and fix old issues. Here’s how to add more storage to your PC.
How to Quickly Add More Storage to Your PC
Here are three quick ways to add more storage to your computer without going inside or paying for an expensive upgrade.
MicroSD Cards
Laptops and tablets have limited options for adding more storage. Instead of opening them, try adding a new SD or MicroSD card to them. You don’t have to worry about them clumsily popping out of your laptop, desktop or tablet. Simply drag your music, pictures and video to the SD or MicroSD card to free up space on the drive inside your PC.
Not all SD and MicroSD Cards are created equal. You want one with lots of space and fast transfer speeds. Cheaper, slower cards can cause you to wait for all your music to load frequently.
Flash Drives
Flash drives are a viable option to add more storage to your computer. The problem is, a lot of it sticks out from the edges. On desktop computers, that’s fine. It’s okay with tablets and laptops that you move around frequently. Tiny flash drives provide a place to store your files other than your computer drive. Because they are so small, they can stay plugged in all the time.
How to Add More Storage with Cloud Storage
Cloud storage provides a great way to add more storage to your computer. These services allow you to offload your files to their servers and free up space on the drive inside.
There are some drawbacks to using cloud services to add more storage to your computer. It all depends on how good your internet connection is. Also, you have to pay for cloud storage every month or every year.
cloud storage
How to Install a New Hard Drive
A new hard drive is one of the most popular ways to add more storage to your computer. Hard drives hold all that is stored on your PC.
Getting the Right Hard Drive
Hard drives come in several different sizes. Desktop computers often have 3.5-inch hard drives inside. Laptops have a 2.5 inch hard drive to store all your information. Besides the physical size of your hard drive, you should also consider what type of hard drive you are looking for. SSD drives offer really fast performance. With them you trade speed for storage size. Standard hard drives are a little slower, but offer much more storage for lower prices.
Before purchasing a hard drive to add more storage to your computer, check the manuals or online description included with the computer to make sure you have the right size and type of drive. They cannot be changed.
If you’re ready to hack into your computer to add a driver, you’ll want to make sure you add enough storage space so you won’t have to do this again in the near future. Try doubling the amount of storage you have. For example, upgrade a computer with 500GB of storage with a 1TB hard drive. Make sure you back up everything on your PC.
desktop computers
Adding a hard drive to a desktop PC is simple when you don’t replace the original drive. You will need space to work and a Philips screwdriver.
You do not need to install Windows because you did not replace the original driver. Navigate to the My Computer folder or This PC area to see the new drive appear. You can move your files there by dragging them.
Note that there are a few caveats to adding storage to a desktop. Very small desktop computers often have no room for a second drive. This may require you to replace the hard drive inside and reinstall Windows. The company that made your computer can provide a disk or flash drive with all the necessary files to reinstall Windows.
Very small PCs have storage permanently attached to their other components. You must add storage to these computers using a flash drive, MicroSD card, or cloud storage service.
laptops
If it’s a laptop, there are other things to consider when adding more storage to your PC. Many laptops have a 2.5 inch hard drive inside. These will be replaced directly. Other laptops are so thin that their manufacturers have permanently attached storage to other components inside.
Check your laptop’s documentation to make sure it can be upgraded. See the PC’s manual on the manufacturer’s website. If necessary, call the manufacturer’s support line. Don’t buy anything until you know it’s possible to upgrade the storage on your computer.
Because you had to replace a driver on laptops, you may need to restore Windows. The company that made your computer may send a disk or flash drive containing the software you need to install Windows on the new drive.
Getting Help With Adding a New Hard Drive
Adding more storage to your computer with a new hard drive can be stressful. If all this sounds too heavy for you, that’s fine. There are companies out there that will take care of this sort of thing for you.
To add more storage to your computer, be sure to read the reviews for anything you buy. Amazon offers customer reviews at the bottom of every page in its store. Feel free to ask your friends about storage solutions that work for them too.
